Thursday, September 20, 2012

Salespeople should know that a walk around isn't just a
presentation, it is a chance to discover the customer's needs and turn your
product or services features into a benefit for that customer.

Learning good selling techniques takes practice and learning how
to give a "walk around" sales presentation is essential to the sales
process.

An excellent walk around presentation is not a canned
presentation. It has been said, "A good walk around presentation doesn't
work because it's canned; it got canned because it works." That's what a
walk around should be - not canned, but planned. Salespeople need to know where
they are going all the time. Hopefully they can help guide the customer down
the Road to the Sale.

Before we can attempt a presentation we must understand what a
"feature" is and what a "benefit" is. A feature is what
something is - a benefit is what something does. Let's use automobile sales as
an example. So let's look at some car sales techniques. A "walk around"
occurs when a salesperson pulls a vehicle out of the line of cars in front of
the dealership. The salesperson opens the doors, the trunk, and the hood. They
turn on the car and get the A/C running in the summertime (or the heater in the
winter time). They take the customer and tell them about the vehicle as they
walk around it.

The aerodynamic styling of a vehicle is a feature; great gas
mileage and a quiet ride are the resulting benefits. A lot of salespeople are
good at reciting features, but not at explaining why the customer needs them -
and this is for two reasons. One is they don't know enough about the car and
the other is they did a poor job qualifying the customer's needs. Ask questions
of your customer. Ask what they want from their next vehicle and listen to what
is said.

How can a salesperson enthusiastically talk about the double
steel cargo box if they don't know what the customer is going to use the
vehicle for? They can't.

In a typical selling situation a salesperson might say something
like, "Yes sir, this car has everything you're looking for: a fuel
efficient engine and a hands-free Bluetooth communications system. It also has
ABS brakes, limited slip rear axle, and terrain management." Sounds all
well and good, right? Wrong. There is nothing your salesperson has told this
customer that 1,500 other salespeople and brochures and Internet research
haven't already told him.

So the customer looks at the salesperson like a deer in the
headlights. He doesn't know what he is what he is supposed to say, except what
he is probably thinking, "I can see all of these options, Mr. Salesperson.
Tell me something I don't know." You see, when the salesperson recites his
or her cornucopia of knowledge, it isn't a question so it doesn't really move
the sale forward. He is just repeating what the customer told him he wanted.

The customer's only response is, "Yes, Mr. Salesperson, I
can see it has everything I asked for. How much is it?" Or worse yet, the
customer may say nothing. The worst thing that can enter a walk around
presentation is silence. When there is silence, there is pressure and in the
selling process, we want no pressure. As I mentioned many times, the only
common ground a customer has is the price. When you stop talking, the only
thing they can say is how much... or goodbye.

To do an excellent walk around, salespeople need to remember the
thing the customer wants to know more than anything, "What will it do for
me?" Until you tell customer that answer, then he is probably isn't
listening.

Back to the walk around - how long did it take me to recite the
options above, 30 seconds? What do I do now? I am out of things to say.
Obviously there are lots of options and I could probably go on for a while, but
even if I could memorize them all on every model, the customer will be yawning.
Why? Because he wants to know what it will do for him. If salespeople are just
going to recite options, they would be better off to hand the customer a
brochure and send him on his way. The brochure is better than a salesperson
will ever be at features. They break down the passenger compartment to cubic
inches for heaven's sake! When it comes right down to it, does the customer
even care that there is 28 inches of legroom? No. But he will be interested to
know that, "Because of the transverse mounted engine, Mr. Customer, when
you and your family take that trip to Colorado this summer you can really
stretch out your legs!" That is how you sell legroom. Note: Without asking
good questions, how could you make the above statement? But here's the good
news: you can make that statement even more powerful in two ways - by moving
the sale forward and by asking for the order.

There are many ways to move the sale forward, but here are a
few. These are simple phrases that keep the customer following you:

"Let me show you this feature on your new Ford
Explorer."

"Let me show you this,"

"Let me show you one more thing,"

"Great, follow me."

Ask for the order, it is quite simple, for example:

"That's a feature I'm sure you'd like, isn't it?" The
customer says, "Yeah!" The salesperson says, "Great, follow
me," or "Great, now let me show you one more thing."

The above question is one which you should already know the
answer. Use it with a feature the customer wants, for example, seat belts, air bags,
crumple zones, etc. A customer just won't say no to seat belts.

During the sale you are always closing -- in sales terminology
that means you are always asking the customer for the order. For example, a
very successful salesman in a 20-minute presentation will ask the customer in
several different ways, in more than a dozen times if they want to buy the
vehicle.

Some of the best closing techniques to use during a sale are
called tie downs. Some call them trial closes. A tie down is simply a question
at the end of a statement that demands a response. Instead of saying,
"Those airbags are a wonderful feature." In the eyes of a customer,
this is just an opinion. But, if I added, "Aren't they?" to the end
of that statement, it forces the customer to respond, hopefully in a positive
way.

Or, "On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest
rating, how would you rate this vehicle so far? What would it take to make that
number a 10?"

However, sometimes a customer may say something that implies
that they don't like the vehicle. For example, "Oh, that looks like
something else that will break."

One way to handle these "objections" is to address the
issue with the "Feel, Felt, Found" response. For example, you might
respond by saying, "I can see why you might feel that. A lot of people
have felt the same way, but once you've found out the engineering behind,
you'll see how beneficial this can be for you."

These few tips will build the foundation for a confident walk
around presentation.

- Learn your product inside and out, research what's being said
about your product on the internet.

- Get to know your customer's needs in the initial greeting and
qualification.

- Present with confidence and tie the features back to their
needs.

- Help make their needs become their wants.

- Remember to refer to competitive brands and create value.

- Take full advantage of your product expertise when doing a
walk around presentation and SELL yourself and your product.

And remember, selling is a process of listening to customer
needs, finding solutions to their needs, building value you in your product or
service, and giving them an opportunity to buy that product or service that
serves their needs!

Vincent Hennigan listens to dozens of vehicle owners every week
to hear what works and what doesn't work with their vehicle technologies. He
listens to customers to understand their technology needs and looks for ways to
tie vehicle technology into a benefit for the customer. Visit his weblog athttp://www.fordtechlane.comto check for more helpful articles. Leave a
question atfordtechlane@gmail.com